oh dear

So Saturday morning dawned, with only a slight hungover haze, we pottered around, had movers arrive and take stuff away, did not a lot. Neil took a trip to the garage and a few swear words ensured. It took me quite some time to get him to use some more helpful adjectives so I could work out what the actual problem was. So now it's time for some back story so that all of those of you who don't live in my area can understand just what all the swear words were all about.
Our area is post war, so around 50-60 years old. All* the garages were made with one wall on the fence line, made of brick, and the rest made of wood or cement sheet. Ours also has an asbestos roof, lucky us! To make them nice and cheap, the mortar was made with lots of sand and not much cement, which means as they age they can almost blow over in a stiff breeze**. A few months ago our neighbours garage was pulled down because it was slowly breaking in have and leaning into our backyard. As the house is a housing commission house, and all the work was done for them, that was all very fine and dandy for them (oooo and we scored some of the bricks, which someday, we are planning on doing dome paving with).
Back to the story, so it turns out out brick wall is now in a fairly similar condition to the one that was taken down. We had known it would happen eventually and had been keeping an eye on it for just that reason, but it has rapidly deteriorated in the last week, it might even be storm damage, as it has been really windy and rainy. Our wall is kind of bulging out in the middle, making it almost impossible to 'brace'. The beam that holds all the roof beams has completely fallen off the wall and the roof is starting to fall in. Many swear words followed the discovery of just how bad a position the whole thing was in.

So, a trip to Bunnings*** was in order for first thing Sunday morning (yuk). We procured:

• Wood, various lengths
  
• tarps (for which we forgot to pay)
  
• plastic boxes (120L)
  
• two $40**** marques

Now all the content of the garage are either inside (if the things were clean) or under the al-cheapo marque and under tarps (yay free tarps! They were in the bloody trolley, I didn't hide them, the stupid man on the counter just didn't scan them and I didn't realise till we got to the car, so stuff them!). The roof as been successfully 'propped' and Neil will have and exciting day tomorrow ringing place to find out how far off affording a new garage we are. *swear word*


There are more pics you can view if you want

* ok probable only a lot of them rather than all.

** Whilst this might be a bit of an exaggeration, there have been small children who have died when they have grabbed the, for example, basket ball ring attached to said wall, which has then collapsed onto them. Not joking! You have to be a tough kid to survive that!

*** for the most of the world that isn't Australian Bunnings is a HUGE hardware place that you tend to loose the people you go there with, the staff and useless and they cell alot of cheep crap mixed in with hardware.

**** This is not just cheap, it's positively cheap arse!